“The Fine Print”, by Michael Schrader

BEWARE OF THE DEMAGOGUES! YOUR LIFE COULD BE AT RISK!

(Written 21 October 1998. Published in the Neighborhood Journal. Posted 23 July 2009.)

As longtime readers of this column already know, I am unabashedly pro-life. I believe that life is a gift from God, God has a purpose for creating each and every life, and it is rather presumptuous of us to claim we know better than God by taking a life. Any life. Under any circumstances.

Of course, being pro-life causes quite a few dilemmas at election time. You see, there are no pro-life candidates. There are those who claim that they are pro-life, but they really are not. Even the so-called "pro-life" candidates will cite cases when it is all right to presume to be smarter than God and kill. Take rape, for instance. Rape is a horrible, heinous crime. However, any life that is created in such a violation is created by God, as only God can create life, and to destroy that life would be to destroy God's work. The child conceived so violently may be the next man or woman of Peace; you never know.

What about cases of incest, you ask? Again God created a life. For what purpose? I don't know, but it's not my place to destroy it.

You hear that it is okay to kill one person in order to save another. It is? What if you kill the wrong one? What if the person that you saved is supposed to die, and the person you killed is supposed to live? We don't know God's divine plan. And, since we don't, have do we know that when we kill a baby to save the mother that we are exterminating the correct person? Maybe the child was supposed to live, and the mother was supposed to die. Only God knows what He has in mind. Who are we to interfere in His work?

You know, I have read the Bible time and time again, and each and every time it says the exact same thing -- "Thou shalt not kill". Nowhere does it mention anything about exceptions for rape, incest, threats to the mother's life, and bad guys. The commandment is pretty cut-and-dried. We should not kill -- ever. To be truly pro-life means that you truly believe in this commandment. I do not understand, then, how anyone can say that they are pro-life and support capital punishment. After all, capital punishment is state-sanctioned murder. Yes, I agree that bad guys should be locked up. Lock them up for the rest of their lives if that is what it takes. But don't kill them. After all, God created the bad guys, too. Who are we, then, to presume to be smarter than God by destroying one of His creations? When it is time for a bad guy to depart this life, God will make the call. And besides, what if, in our thirst for vengeance, we are wrong? What if the guy we thought was guilty was really innocent? It's kind of a moot point if they are dead.

Because I have yet to meet a candidate who is truly pro-life, that is, is opposed to the pre-meditated extinguishing of a human life under any circumstances, then the pro-life issue is really a moot point. There are those who will argue that it does matter, that it's better to be two-thirds pro-life than not at all. No, it isn't. The person who is anti-life in all circumstances does not discriminate on which lives are worthless. They are all equally worthless, regardless of race, creed, gender, handicap, method of conception, or economic status. But they are all equal.

The partial "pro-lifer" (and I use the term loosely) has decreed that some lives are more valuable than others, that we are all not equal. Of course, this goes against everything I believe as a man of theological convictions and as an American. Does it not say in the Declaration of Independence, "All men are created equal?" Thus, isn't it rather contrary to our own national dogma to espouse views that somehow we are not equal, and that some have a right to live while others do not? Who is to say who has that right? Do you?

Back to “The Fine Print” Index